For most of the run of The Office, Stanley (left) has been a dry, quiet presence at Dunder-Mifflin. It was pretty much understood that he didn't respect -- let alone like -- Michael Scott. Tonight, he made it clear, letting out 10 years of frustration with his boss in front of the staff.

"Did I Stutter?" -- based on the three words from Stanley that set off the conflict -- was one of the strongest episodes of the season, mixing humor and a bit of pathos: our realization -- yet again -- that Michael's obsessive need to be like is his Achilles heal. "Maybe if you got to know, you'd respect me more," Michael says to Stanley, but Stanley tells him that's not the case. The more he sees of Michael, the less he likes. It's not just Michael's casual insensitivity, his insistence on seeing Stanley as a representative of his entire race. It's that, as Stanley puts it, every decision Michael makes, Stanley would do the opposite.

And yet, Michael's able to squeeze out a small measure of respect in the end, simply by swallowing hard and confronting Stanley directly, as he should have from the start.